Dr. Mayra Alfonso

Dealing with frustrating setbacks on your weight loss path

How do you deal with setbacks on your weight loss path?

As we all know life is not a straight line. Life as we know it is full of challenges, frustrations, setbacks, and ups and downs.

That’s a fact!

How do you deal with these situations that are out of our control when you are trying to lose weight? When you are going down a weight loss path, trying to lose weight and stay fit these situations can be challenging, and they can put a dent in your progress.

I can tell you, I’ve been there. My own weight loss path was full of challenges, stressful situations, emotional losses, physical ailments, financial struggles, etc. My life is no different from anyone’s else. Trying to lose weight was not always a walk in the park.

In fact, a very common physical ailment I used to have was bad sinus infections. When I had a respiratory tract infection I did not restrict my calories, and I eat plenty of carbohydrates, which often times would cause my weight to go back up. To make things worse, I didn’t have the energy to exercise, so I was not been very active.

I’m certain you have had many of those on your weight loss path.

Dealing with setbacks when trying to lose weight is common, but what can you do?

First of all, we need to accept that setbacks are part of life and they are not going to go away. There’s never going to be a perfect time to take action. The perfect time is when you start, not when the circumstances are perfect because there is not such thing. Once we accept that, we can deal better with these challenges.

The next thing I recommend is, do not harm. Yes, chances are that if you are going through setbacks, illnesses or day by day stressful situations you are not going to eat as clean or healthy as you typically do. And likely you are not going to exercise regularly but what you want to do is to inflict the least amount of harm to yourself.

If you are not able to eat your healthy diet, liberalize it but don’t go crazy about it. Try to keep some level of control on what you eat, and don’t overeat.

If you are not able to exercise try at least to stay a little active. What kind of things can you do to stay active even if you are not exercising? If you are not physically sick, you can, for example, take the stairs at work, park your car in the parking lot as far as possible so you do some extra walking, or walk your dog a little farther.

You want to keep a level of control over the situation. You don’t want to lose all the gains that you have made over time.

It is possible to gain weight at a faster rate than the rate that you lose it, so be mindful of your actions.

If what you are dealing with is not related to physical ailment you want to remain active. Exercise is a great stress reliever, and it helps with depression. You feel better after exercising because you release “free good” substances, endorphins. In addition, the feeling of accomplishing something makes you feel good.

If you are dealing with frustrating setbacks on your weight loss path, remember that you will never feel guilty for eating healthy or for exercising and that this too should pass.